


The F Word

by Skyepilot



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Affection, Angst, Cooking, Coulson as Daisy's handler, Coulson is a dork, Coulson's prosthetic, Daisy trying to compartmentalize Coulson, Drinking, F/M, Female Friendship, Flirting, Fraternizing, Inhuman ladies and their human guys, Male-Female Friendship, Paperwork, SHIELD rules, Sexual Humor, Sokovia Accords, Speculation, Teasing, Unresolved Romantic Tension, Unresolved Tension, canon friendly I guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-24
Updated: 2016-09-24
Packaged: 2018-08-17 03:06:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8127982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skyepilot/pseuds/Skyepilot
Summary: S4 speculation.  Daisy is back at SHIELD, Coulson has been assigned to be her handler, and Daisy tries to compartmentalize Coulson.  With Mack/YoYo.  Canon-friendly, I guess.





	

"Hey."

He pauses, and waits until their crew passes behind him to start to load up the SUV, out of viewing and hearing range.

"We're going out for my post-" Yo Yo wraps her hands around his middle so hard, he actually has to put an arm around her just to keep his balance. "Interview."

"More like...interrogation," she grins.

Mack chuckles, while Coulson smiles politely and looks between the two of them, unaware of the little frown line forming between his eyebrows.

"Okay," he says, to fill the sudden, obvious silence.

"What is that face?" Yo Yo asks.

He realizes that she's talking to him, about him. "Face?" he answers, recoiling. "I'm not making a face."

Mack sighs, and pulls out his sat phone and checks through the contents on the screen.

"The clean up crews can handle this, and I don't have to release the asset," he mentions, while the corner of his mouth turns up. "Until I finish interviewing her for my field report."

"Sure," Coulson nods. "Yeah, but, we both know that's-"

"Do not say it," Yo Yo interrupts, shaking her head judgmentally.

"I wasn't going to-" He tries to get a word in, but then Mack puts the phone away and looks back up at him with a decided expression.

"I need some place nice, and quiet, where we won't be interrupted. Don't you agree?"

"It is going to be a very in depth report," Yo Yo adds with a whisper, leaning forward.

"Sounds scintillating," Coulson replies drolly, and opens up his own phone. "Just make sure to be back by-"

"Unless, you want to come with us," Mack interrupts, glancing up over his shoulder, and tips his chin up. "Tremors."

Coulson freezes in place, and doesn't turn around to look.

"What?" Daisy asks, walking up to them, crossing her arms as she comes to stand near to Coulson.

Near, but, not quite.

"We are going to fill out our stupid field report," Yo Yo tells her. "In the best tequila bar in East LA."

"Don't you have to include the location where the report takes place?" Daisy asks, and turns towards Coulson, so that he's aware she's involving him in this conversation.

"Si," she nods. "Since I am the asset, and since an Inhuman saved their asses again, I get to decide. Live a little."

"Cool," Daisy says, waving away her shrug with a hand. "You're not an Inhuman on probation. And Mack's not my handler."

"True," Mack agrees. "Which is why we were just about to talk your handler into going along with it."

Daisy rolls her eyes and widens her stance a little.

"Uh," Coulson starts, still pretending to check his phone. "I don't think we should-"

"Say it," Daisy tells him, goading him a bit with her tone.

"Why?" he turns on her, challenging. "You told me not to make waves."

Her eyes flash for a moment, and it goes quiet again. So quiet, Mack and Yo Yo look around them, as the familiar tension fills the air.

"I'm still confused by this color system," she starts. "And hoping you don't end up...purple, for instance."

"Who knows what purple means. No one does." He glances up at Mack. "Is there a purple?"

"It's blue and red together," she replies.

"Okay," he answers, acting non-plussed at her tone. "Let's test your theory, then, and see if-"

"Guys," Mack says, interrupting, stepping between them. "Are you in or out?"

  
##

  
"What do you think the color system really is?" Coulson asks her, putting down his scotch.

She narrows her eyes, watching Mack and Yo Yo slow dance together to a Spanish love song she's never heard.

Never heard, and yet, she wants to remember it, watching the way they look at each other, how happy they are.

"He's trying to gauge our strengths and our weaknesses," she replies.

"Yeah," he shrugs. "But, what's he playing at?"

"Because," she starts, lifting her glass of whiskey, then throwing it back. "He wants to put us all in boxes."

He twists his jaw at the implications of that, as she looks down at the empty glass, knowing exactly what it's a reference to.

He glances at her half-completed field report, and then stubbornly turns it to read the contents.

"I guess 'ol flame head gets to ride another day," he remarks, not hiding the sarcasm in it at all.

She laughs, a short laugh, but turns her whole body towards him, pulling her knee up into the booth.

"How much time did you spend coming up with that one?"

"Please." He huffs, and pushes the report away from him along the table.

"Seriously," she says "You're such a dork."

He frowns a little at that, but it's more of a curious frown.

"I'm a dork?"

She sighs, and leans back into the booth, stretching her legs out underneath the table.

"Yes, Agent Coulson. I wish you weren't such a dork."

He fumbles around at that, as her eyes go back to watching Mack and Elena, so he pulls the other papers closer to him, Mack's papers, and picks up the pen.

"You lost a bet, right?" she asks.

Turning back to look at her, he sees her leaning into the booth, tired, and he starts to wonder if this really was a good idea after all.

"I've lost a lot of bets," he answers, half-smiling. Mack's been really good to him. Good for him. He's kind of jealous of Elena, in some way that he can't put his finger on.

"He makes you fill out his field reports," she says, leaning forward to look at it with him. "Figures."

He starts to write, and then she elbows him a little, not enough to mess him up.

"Clever," she tells him. "Using your left hand."

The handwriting looks exactly like Mack's, of course. "Why just forge when you can-," he stops himself. "Really forge?"

"Nice, charm school."

It catches him off guard, and makes him feel sentimental at the same time. It warms him, no way it's just the alcohol. He smiles, watching her look at his hand, and the writing, and-

"Do me."

"I'm sorry?" he asks, sucking in a breath.

There's a knowing smile on her face, like she's about to say exactly what he's thinking.

Instead, she asks quietly, "Do mine, too."

She pushes her papers towards him, as he lets out the air in his lungs.

"You're right. I am a dork."

"I just want to see how it works," she says, with a teasing smile, and props her chin up on her elbow.

  
##

"We should all be written up," Yo Yo announces. "For 'fraternizing'."

"Only the two of you," Daisy says, tugging her closer, glancing back at the open cargo hold behind them.

"The F word," she goes on. "I hate it. We are helping them, not the other way around."

"I know," Daisy says, giving her a hug. "But you care so much. Thank you."

"We both do," she tells her, eyes up on Mack standing behind them. She grips Daisy by the shoulders. "Fix it. From the inside. That is who you are. Make it mesh, is the word?"

She nods, and finds herself getting too emotional again, and buries her face against her neck and her hair.

"Go easy on him, hey? Mack says he is sad."

That causes her to give a sharp laugh. "Pillow talk."

"Not yet," Yo Yo says, stepping away, smiling. "But soon."

Then she puts up two fingers, and she's gone, in the blink of an eye, and Daisy turns around and trods up the steps of the cargo bay.

Mack gives her a hug, in front of everyone, like he's daring them to say something.

"We should get you something to eat," Coulson interrupts, as she passes him. Saying it like he has to, not because he wants to.

"I'm not hungry," she shoots back, letting go of Mack and continuing up the open hold.

Mack looks at Coulson, frowning after her, and then elbows him. "No fraternization allowed."

He smiles up at Mack, and walks after her, following her as they display their clearances, one after the other.

"I was thinking about cooking tonight," he says beside her.

"Go for it."

"Not even curious?" he asks, as they turn to pass the galley area.

"About what? The secret to your grilled cheese?" she grinds out, as she stops in the hall.

"No," he replies. "About making some waves. Little waves."

She looks surprised when he gives her a small smile and then turns into the kitchen, hoping she'll follow.

"Do you even know what's in here?" she asks, as he starts going through the cabinets.

"Nope," he answers, putting the chicken stock can on the counter, as she watches agents pass by them in the hall staring at them.

"And that makes-"

"Me," he smirks. "Doing my job," he pauses, getting a pan out. "If you want me to."

She doesn't answer, and he opens the small fridge and starts to look through it. Not exactly the kind of stuff for an asset whose diet is being monitored.

"Coconut milk," he says, with a serious expression, hefting the container.

"How can I resist?" she replies, crossing her arms and leaning against the cabinets.

"We're fraternizing, without fraternizing," he says, innocently, as she raises an eyebrow at him.

"My, how far we have come," she answers, rubbing at the SHIELD bracelet on her wrist.

"You know, we don't talk about things-"

He leaves it at that, as he uses the can opener and continues to work, then pulls out a couple of bags of baby carrots and starts shredding them.

"No. We don't. And even if we wanted to, we're not allowed to," she reminds him, stealing a carrot.

"I think I get it," he starts, as she sits at the counter. "What it must've been like when you first joined SHIELD."

"You joined SHIELD, a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far, away."

He looks down and bites his lower lip. "Yeah, I've been around the block."

"But?"

"This still feels...new. Ever since I've known you, to be honest. Like starting over. Lots of firsts"

She pushes her tongue against her teeth, deciding if she wants to go for the obvious joke.

But she doesn't.

He's put everything into the pot and lets it start to simmer.

"You do?" she asks, leaning forward, as he props himself up against the counter with his arms.

"Yeah," he replies, mirroring her movements. "There won't be Sokovia Accords. Eventually."

"You're very optimistic," she says, looking down at the counter, avoiding the intensity in his gaze.

"I hope it's enough for both of us."

He stares back at her, and then smiles and goes to get two bowls out of the cabinet.


End file.
